Mack Brown, Lee Corso to be honored at Orange And White Game

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - (WVLT/SUBMITTED) -- Texas coach Mack Brown has been named 2013 recipient of the Neyland Trophy. Lee Corso is this year's recipient of the Lindsey Nelson Broadcasting Award.

The award presentation takes place Saturday, April 20, at 10 a.m., at the East Tennessee Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame brunch at The Foundry in Knoxville.

Brown and Corso also will be honored on the field later that afternoon in pregame ceremonies before Tennessee's annual DISH Orange and White Game.

Texas head coach Mack Brown, who was born and raised in Cookeville, Tenn., has been named the 2013 recipient of the Neyland Trophy, presented by the Knoxville Quarterback Club.

First awarded in 1967, the Neyland Trophy is named in honor of Hall of Fame and legendary head coach Gen. Robert R. Neyland, who coached the Vols from 1926-52 and was UT athletics director until his death in 1962.

“Having grown up in Middle Tennessee, the legend of General Neyland has been with me all of my life,” Brown said. “From the time I was a little kid, I can remember my dad and granddad, who were both football coaches, talking about him. I came to respect not only what he meant to the game of college football and to our state of Tennessee, but also what his military service meant to America.

“I have always respected his patriotism, and it is a true honor to be able to stand in the stadium named for him and receive an award that bears his name. When I look at the list of coaches who have gotten this award, I am both humbled and honored.”

Brown completed his 15th season at Texas, and 29th overall as a head coach in 2012. He led the Longhorns to a 9-4 mark and a victory over Oregon State in the Alamo Bowl, making his record 150-43 at Texas, and 236-117-1 overall. The 236 wins rank him 11th all-time. Brown is one of three active FBS head coaches to reach the 200-win plateau, and one of only two FBS head coaches to lead his team to 20 bowl games in 21 seasons and 22 winning seasons in the last 23 years. He has guided the Longhorns to six Big 12 South Division titles, two Big 12 championships, four BCS Bowl berths and two appearances in the BCS National Championship game, winning it all in 2005.

Recently named the 2013 AFCA President, Brown has been named AFCA Regional Coach of the Year three times and Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year in 2008. He earned Paul “Bear” Bryant National Coach of the Year honors in 2005 after leading the Longhorns to a 13-0 record and a BCS championship, and in 2009, was named Big 12 Coach of the Year after a 13-1 season. The 2010 season ended a streak of nine straight seasons of 10 or more wins for the Brown-led Longhorns, which is the second-longest streak in NCAA history.

Brown arrived in Austin after 10 years with the University of North Carolina, where he led the Tar Heels to a 54-18 record in his final six seasons, including three 10-win seasons and six straight bowl games. Brown began his head coaching career in 1983 at Appalachian State, leading the Mountaineers to a 6-5 record for one season before being picked up as an offensive coordinator at the University of Oklahoma in 1984. Brown earned his second head coaching opportunity in 1985 at Tulane. He inherited a program that had suffered three straight losing seasons and led them to a 6-5 record in 1987 and a berth in the Independence Bowl, the program’s fourth bowl appearance since 1940.

Brown began his coaching career as a student assistant at Florida State in 1973, where he picked up coaching after an injury kept him from playing in his senior season. From 1975 to 1979, he worked as a wide receivers coach at Southern Miss, Memphis State and Iowa State before becoming the offensive coordinator for the Cyclones. After two years as the offensive coordinator at Iowa State, Brown became the quarterbacks coach at LSU in 1982.

His brother, Watson, is currently the head coach at Tennessee Tech.

---

One of the most colorful characters and well-known personalities in sports broadcasting, Lee Corso is this year's recipient of the Lindsey Nelson Broadcasting Award.

“Lindsey Nelson was a legend,” Corso said. “He was one of the first all-time legends in the sports broadcasting business and I’m honored to be given an award with his name on it.”

Following a successful coaching career, Corso has become a household name as an ESPN analyst on the College Football Gameday television show since its inception in 1987. Since then he has become famous for his Gameday predictions in which he dons the head of a team mascot to indicate his selection.

Corso began his run in college athletics as a two-sport standout at Florida State. He starred on both offense and defense on the football field, leading the Seminoles in interceptions in 1954, rushing in 1955, and passing in 1956. He was the FSU career interception leader with 14 until Deion Sanders tied him in the late 1980s. He was an Associate Press Honorable Mention All-American as a senior in 1956 and was selected to play in the Blue-Gray All-Star game. Corso was also a terrific outfielder on the Seminole baseball team.

After his playing career Corso moved on to coaching, spending 28 years at the collegiate level with stints as an assistant at Maryland and Navy. He then spent three years as the head coach at Louisville, nine years leading the Indiana program and one year at the helm at Northern Illinois, amassing an overall record of 73-85-6. He also took the reins of the Orlando Renegades of the United States Football League for one season in 1985 and served as the general manager of the World League’s Orlando Thunder from January-July 1991.

Corso began his television career serving as an analyst on bowl games for the Mizlou Television Network (1979-82) and USFL games for ABC (1983). He debuted on ESPN in 1987 as a game analyst, calling one season of Arena Football and two seasons of college football.

Corso’s seasoned presence and insightful analysis on College GameDay have helped the show earn a huge following. The in-season Saturday morning show won a Sports Emmy in 2007, 2009 and 2010, and received nominations for Sports Emmys in 2000 and 2003 and for CableACE Awards in 1994, ’95 and ’97. In 2006, College GameDay received the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame’s Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award.

A highly sought-after motivational speaker, Corso was honored with two prestigious awards in 2010. He received the US Sports Academy Ronald Reagan Media Award given to those who have made outstanding contributions to sport through broadcasting, print, photography or acting. Corso also earned the National College Football Awards Association Contributions to College Football Award, which recognizes exceptional contributions to college football and a lifetime of achievement and integrity. In 2011, he received the Jake Wade Award from CoSIDA, presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution in the media to the field of intercollegiate athletics.

As College GameDay’s national appeal has grown, Corso’s opinions, analysis and daring predictions have become one of the most anticipated in sports television. In 2001, Sporting News Magazine selected Corso as the 17th most influential person in college football. The magazine in January 2004 ranked Corso and fellow GameDay hosts – Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit – as 2003’s “Most Powerful Media Personalities in Sports.”

Gen. Robert R. Neyland Trophy

The Neyland Trophy is awarded annually by the Knoxville Quarterback Club to an outstanding man who has contributed greatly to intercollegiate athletics. The first presentation in 1967 went to Nathan W. Dougherty and Herman Hickman. Dougherty was the man who hired Gen. Neyland in 1926, and Hickman was Neyland's his first All-America lineman who later became head coach at Yale. The permanent trophy is displayed in the Tennessee Hall of Fame Exhibit in the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center on the University of Tennessee campus.

Nelson's radio and television career began in 1948 as the very first Voice of the Vols. He helped form the Vol Network before embarking on a national broadcasting career in which he covered thousands of sporting events over the next five decades. Nelson, who died in 1995, is a member of 13 different halls of fame.

In memory of his contributions to the broadcasting profession, this award is bestowed on a broadcaster who has exemplified Nelson's passion for broadcasting in their careers.

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.